Chapter Forty-Ninth: The Bloodline Mark

What Professor Liu had in his hand was not really a potion, strictly speaking, but a purified liquid from a mutated plant; yet in terms of effect, it was hardly any worse than the potion made from phantom mushrooms.

Shen Lie called this potion Crimson Fruit Potion, because the raw ingredient came from something he had recovered. During one expedition, he had chanced upon a mutated tree. He saw more than ten birds roosting on it, and every one was mutated. He was reminded at once of the warped crows by the phantom mushroom field, so he shot every one of them down and stripped all the fruits from the tree.

After picking the fruit he didn’t dare to eat it directly. Though he suspected it might have the same effect as the phantom mushrooms, it had not been verified, so he took it back to the team and handed it to Professor Liu to analyze.

After Professor Liu confirmed through analysis that the fruit contained no toxins, Shen Lie began consuming it, but the results did not satisfy him.

By then, after long, uninterrupted practice of the Boiling Blood Technique, his bloodline power had already reached the edge of opening the second node. Ordinary growth in energy no longer brought him any benefit. What he needed was something that could unleash an instantaneous, massive surge, otherwise he might grind away for years before that node could be lit.

That was the reason this potion had been made.

It was the finished product after Professor Liu extracted and purified all useful substances from every fruit, then gave it simple processing. Since nothing else was added, there was no need to worry about toxicity.

“Thanks, Professor. Zhang Jing, come out with me for a while.” Shen Lie took the potion and, unable to hold back his impatience, called for Zhang Jing and got into the armored car. Little Taotao followed tightly behind. The three left the group and went to a quiet, secluded spot.

“This is fine. The two of you, watch my back,” Shen Lie said with a smile. Then he found a smooth patch of ground, knelt down, and began preparing to use the potion.

He trusted Zhang Jing and Taotao completely. Both had stood the test of time, and their loyalty to him was absolute. Besides, after using the Evolution Potion, Little Taotao’s strength had risen sharply enough that her watch-duty alone was more than sufficient.

After steadying his body, Shen Lie inhaled once, then without hesitation uncorked the vial and, tilting his neck, swallowed all of it at once.

A wave of heat formed in his abdomen. Shen Lie again felt what it had been like the moment he used the White Petal. Energy filled him completely, and he immediately set the Boiling Blood Technique in motion, guiding that energy toward the second node.

The second node was not far from the first. It had already begun to show signs, and under this surging energy it gradually formed a small vortex, no different from the first one. Energy was plentiful, so Shen Lie intended to push through at one stroke and ignite this whirl.

Yet just as the vortex was about to form and begin to emit faint star-like radiance, an abrupt change erupted.

“Ah—”

Shen Lie let out a weak cry. He saw that as soon as the second vortex lit, the first one suddenly grew restless too. The two vortices, as if in resonance, began trembling at the same frequency. Then a golden-yellow line appeared between them. He had not anticipated this at all, and could not stop it either; he could only watch in horror as both vortices trembled faster and faster, then a second golden line appeared.

When the two gold lines had grown to the same thickness, they suddenly began moving toward each other and became entangled in one place.

There seemed to be a faint sound, and then those two golden lines dropped away from above the vortices. Like a snapped rubber band, they abruptly tightened and coiled into a knot, after which both vortices simultaneously emitted refined bloodline power and drove it into that clump of gold lines.

The bundle of gold line felt like a bottomless pit, greedily absorbing a constant flow of energy. It had already drained the color from Shen Lie’s face, yet he dared not make any move at all, for fear that one misstep would blow his body apart.

The process lasted for several full minutes. As he watched the two vortices become ever fainter, on the edge of collapse, the golden knot’s sucking motion finally stopped. The rounded mass of gold suddenly burst into a dazzling blaze, and under Shen Lie’s anxious gaze, it exploded into an even more brilliant starlight.

“Damn, am I about to meet my maker?” This knot had held the total energy of both vortices. This detonation should have been close to several supercharged explosive packs—how was he not turned to mush?

Just when Shen Lie thought to do what he could after this near-disaster, he found that the starlight did not disperse. Instead, within the zone between the two vortices it formed a band of starlight and began shrinking rapidly. In a blink it shaped itself into a golden mark and gradually stabilized.

“This… could it be a bloodline mark?” He showed no alarm, only eager anticipation.

The idea of a bloodline mark was something Shen Lie had heard from Du Lili. In recent days they had discussed their own conditions frequently, including the powerful Fire Dragon Technique that Du Lili used.

At first Shen Lie assumed Du Lili used Fire Dragon Technique because she had obtained that bizarre skill manual, like he had. But after speaking with her, he learned it was not so.

By Du Lili’s account, an imprint had already existed within her from the moment she awakened. At that time it was very dim, yet through that very mark she could use the Fire Dragon Technique. Even a dim mark could trigger it, though the power was weak, little better than an ordinary Fireball Spell.

But once she ignited her first node, that mark brightened. Using the node to awaken the power, its might surged at once. And when she ignited her second node, her Fire Dragon Technique increased again and could split into two, allowing her to command two flames at once.

Yes, Du Lili had now lit the second node, and the power was terrifying. During a recent supply run she even crossed paths with Gu Chengfang and top awakened fighters from the military. All three sides showed their strengths, and all were shocked by her force. From then on, Du Lili had become the unquestioned champion of the team; anyone in the armored-car squad who had designs on them withdrew of their own accord.

Although that woman had possessed a gifted imprint from the moment she awakened, while Shen Lie’s mark only appeared after he lit his second node, he was still overjoyed. The emergence of this mark meant he was about to master a new bloodline skill. With the World-Ending Hammer already in his possession, he was now on the edge of becoming a concealed master of two skills!

Everyone in the group had always assumed that the World-Ending Hammer was his bloodline technique and that he was a lightning-line awakened one. No one knew that his lightning ability was merely an auxiliary power, and his main aptitude was Strength. Now he was about to gain a Strength-type bloodline skill.

When the mark finally formed, Du Lili had told him hers was shaped like a dragon, while when Professor Liu lit his first node he had also formed a mark, which, according to him, was shaped like a strange bead-like gem—whatever that meant. Between their discussion and information gathered elsewhere, they confirmed that the mark formed inside essentially represented the bloodline one had awakened.

Professor Liu’s mark could not be identified. Du Lili’s awakening was unmistakably of dragon bloodline, no wonder that woman was so formidable. The awakened members of the team had mostly reached the same conclusion: the higher the rank of one’s awakened bloodline, the greater the power one’s ability can wield.

That is, if two people both awaken fire-element ability, a dragon-bloodline awakened one and a fire-snake-bloodline awakened one will not produce identical manifestations. This is a constraint imposed by the bloodline rank itself—an unbreakable shackle. The difference between Du Lili and Ma Zhanlin proves it. At the same level, Du Lili can utterly crush ten Ma Zhanlins.

What bloodline had Shen Lie awakened? He was wildly curious, and he brimmed with anticipation.